Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1887-01-27

| saw TO myse +: "If love Christ and live
| good, honest useful life am elected to be
saved; and If do not love Christ and live
bad life, will be damned, and all the thee.
| logical seminaries Of the universe cannot
make II any different" i floundered long
while in the sea of sin and doubt, and 1t was
as rough as the Mediterranean on the four
teenth night when they threw the grain over
and that plank took, and have been warm
ing myself by the bright fire on the shore for
three deacdes.
While am talking to another man about
his soul he tells me: ~ do not become a
Christian because do not believe there Is any
hell at all" Ali don't youi Do all the
people, of all beliefs and no bel eff mt all, OF
good morals and bad morals, 90 straight to q
happy heaven2 Do the hoy and the de-
bauched have the same destinations! AT mid
night in hallway the owner of house and
burglar meet each other, and they both fire,
and both are wounded, but the burglar died in
five minutes and the owner Of the house lives
a week after, W II the burglar be Mt the gate OF
Heaven waiting when the HORSEPOWER comes
in. Will the debauchee and The liberlne 90
right In among the families OF HeayenE l
wond'r If llerod is playing on The banks OF
the RIVER of Life with the chldien
he massacred. l Wonder If Charles Gulteau
and John Wilkes Booth are up there shooting
at mark. do not MOVE ntroverti It, although
] must say that for such miserable heaven 1
have no admiration. But the Bible does not
say: believe in perdtion and be saved" Be
cause all are saved, according 10 your theory,
that ought not To keep you from loving anu
serving Christ. Do not refuse 10 come ashore
because all the Others, according to your the
DRY. are going to get ashore. You may have u
different theory about chem stry, about astron-
ON, about The atmosphere, from that which
others adopt, but YOU are not therefore hinder
ed from action. Because your theory of Light is
different from Others, do not refuse to open your
RppnllSp
YOU do not refuse 10 breathe. Because yonr
theory about stellar system is different, YOU do
not refuse to acknowledge the North Star.
Why should the fact that your theological the
cries are different hinder you from acting
upon what you know! If you have not
who ship fashioned in the theological dry
docks to bring YOU to wharfage, you have at
least plank: 'SOne on broken pieces OF the
ship"
But don't believe in revivals!" Then go
to your room, and all alone with YOUR door
locked give your heart to God and join some
church where the thermometer never gets
higher than fifty IN the shade. But do not
he ieve in Bapt sm!" Come in wit hOus II, and
settle that matter a'terwarL But there are
so many inconsistent Christians" Then come
in and show them by Il good example how pro
fessOrs ought to act. "Bu | don't believe in
The Old TcstHmcmtn Then come In ON the
New. But don't Ike the Book Of Romans"
Then come ia on Matthew or Luke. Relus ng
Saviour Of the lost because you can not admit
other things, YOU are like n man out there In
that Mediterranean tempest and tossed In the
Nett breakers, rcfu,ing to come ashore un-
Ill he ~ mend the pieces of the broken ship.
| hear him say: 81 won't 20 in on any of these
plamks until know in what part of the ship
they belong. When eau get the windllss in
the right place, and the sails set, aud that
keel piece where it belongs, and that floor tim
| Der ght, and these ropes untangled, will go
| ashore. am all Old sailor aud know all about
| hips Tor forty years and as soon AS ! can get
| the vessel ufOat IN good shape will come ill.,"
| A man DRIFT NJ 10y ON n piece of wood over
| hears him and saws: You will drown before
| you get that ship reconstructed. Better do as
| | am doing. | know uothiI z about ships, aud
| never saw one before ! came on board this,
and | can not swim a str kr, but ! um going
| ashore on this shivrrcd timber" The man in
| the otng while trring Ia Iuend his ship goes
| down. The man who trusted to tue p ank is
| savcd. o, my brother, let your snashed-up
| system Of theology 20 to the bottom willie
| YOU come in on a spntrred sparl Some on
| broken pieces of the ship
| You NAV get ali YOUR difficulties settled as
| Garlbaldi, the magnetic Italian got his gar
| dens made. When the war between Austria
| and Sardinia broke out lie WAS living a Cap
| rea, IA very rOugh all uncultured Island home
| But he went forth W th his sword 10 achieve
| the liberation Of Naples and Sicily, and gave
| nine million people free gOvcrnm mt under
| Victor Emanuel Garibalii, after being alb
| sent two years from Caprra, returned and,
, %hen lie approa chrd it, lie found that his home
| had by Victor Emanuel as a surprise been
| EIeniZed. Trimmed shrubbery had taken
the place Of thorny thic,ets, gardens
| the place Of baTcnness, and the old rock
cry in which he once lived had given
| way to Il pictured mansion where he
we'd in comfort the rest of his DAYS. And
| tell you Il YOU will come ani enlist under the
| banner Of our Victor Emmanuel, and follow
Him through tn elk aud thin, and fight His
| battles. and endure His sacrifices, YOU will
| find after while that lie has changed your
heart from a jungle of thorny skcptIcisn Into
Il garden all abio0m with luXurant joy that
| YOU have never dreumt Of. From tangled
| Caprera of sadness into Paradise of God!
/ do not know how your theological system
| went to picc 5. 1t may lie that YOUR parcn Is
| started YOU with only one plank, and you
! believe little or nothing. Or they may have
neen too rigid and severe in religious disci
pine, aud cracked you over the head with q
Isalm-Oook. 1t may he that some partner in
business who was member OF an evangelical
church played n YOU a trick that disguised
,ou with rliig on. 1t may be that you have
associates who have talked against Christian
u In your presence until you are 'all at sea, y
and you dwell more ON things than you do moi
believe than on things you do believe. You
are in one respect like Lord Nelson, when a
signal was lifted that he wished to disregard
aud lie put his sea-glass to his blind eye and
said: Il really do not see the signal" D.
my hcarer, put this field glass of the gospel nc
longer to your blind eye, and say cannot see,
Tut put 1t u your other eye, the eye of faith,
and You Will see Christ, and lie Is all you
need to see.
| Come in on that one narrow beam, the beam
If the cross. Let all else 90 and cling 10 that
Put that under you, and with the earnestnes'
of a swimmer struggling for his life put ou
| for shore There is a great warm fire Of wei
| 81 already ElE
we're as far out YOU are, are standing in its
genial and hcvsHly glow. The angels of Gods
rescue are wading out into the surf to clutch
| our hand. and they know how exhausted you
are, and all the redeemed prodigals of HEAVIER
are on the beach with new white robes Il
clothe all these who come in on broken pieces
| of the ship.
My sympathies are for such all the more be
cause it was naturally skeptical
disposed to question everything aDou
danger of being further out to sef
than any Of the two hundred and seventy-sil
in the Mediterranean breakers, and i wa
SOL etimes the annoyance of my theological
professor because asked so many questions
But came II on plank. knew Christ wal
the Saviour of sinners, aud that was sinner
and got ashore, aud do not propose to &C
out on that sea again. have not for thirt,
minutes discussed the contrOverted points o.
theology in thirty years. And during the rest
" MY llc w Hot plppoeS W uIsSuso thcH io'
thirty seconds.
l would rather, in a mud-scow, try Il
weather the worst cyclone that ever swept III
from the Caribbean than risk my imniorta
soul in useless and perilous discussions il
which some of my brethren in the ministry
are. INDUCING. They remind me of a com
pany Of sailors standing on Ramsgate pier
head, from which the life-boats are u ually
launched, and cOoly discussing the diff rent
styles Of oar-loclls and how deep boat ought
to set in the water, while a hrrricane is in full
blist, and there are three steamers crowded
with passengers going to pieces in the ofting
An old tar, the muscles OF his face working
with nervous excitement, cries out: This il
no time to discuss such things. Man thu
life-boat! Who will volunteer Out with he
into the surf! Pull, my lads, pu for til,
wreck! Hal hal Now we have them. Lf
them in and Law them down on the bottom o.
the boat. Jack YOU try 10 bring them to. Pu
these fannels around their hands and feet, ant
| will pun Tor he shore God help mel There
anded! Huzzal When there are so man,
struggling In tie waves Of sin and sorrow anC
wretchedness, let all else 20 but salvation TO
time and salvation forever.
bethink myself that there are some her
whose Opportunity or whose life Is mer
wreck, and they have only small piece left
, You started in youth with all sails set ant
everythin promised grand VOYAGE, but yoI
! have sailed IN the wrong direction iOu q